SwingDJs

A dance i DJ has a mix crowd of lindy hoppers and tango dancers. the organizer asked me if there are any songs that would work for both styles ( she wants to do a mini showcase). any recommendations?

Louis Armstrong's "Kiss of Fire" is a decent tango. The tune is tango but wouldn't seen too out of place as a token tango song at a swing dance. Not really what you're asking but I've never fathomed a combined swing/tango night.

really? We used to have a dance on every full moon in San Diego where it was a tango swing night, and also a monthly event in Portland where it was swing, tango, and blues

St. Louis Blues traditionally uses a mix of tango and swing rhythms. The song has been recorded by a million artists, in a wide range of styles, so depending on the taste of your dancers, I would imagine that you could find one rendition that suites you.

You might start with the recordings by Fats Waller or Louis Armstrong. Or the Sidney Bechet recording off the album Blues in the Air.

(slightly to the side of swing, knoxville had a tango-blues weekend not so long ago -- more blues for tango dancers and tango for blues dancers than attempting to fuse them... i didn't have much to do with it, but physicsdan organized, actually dances both swing and tango, and might be a good person to talk to. setlists and such are largely available here: http://www.buenosairesblues.com/music.htm )

i'm not much of a tango dancer, but oscar aleman's "dolores" is fun to lindy hop to and tends to produce at least a few faking-it tango promenades across the room.

lu watters "pastime rag no. 5" has some tango elements, and it certainly makes me want to jazz dance... maybe not as much swing dance, but definitely jazz. i have sidney bechet's "chant in the night" in the same folder.

good luck!

Tango Blues - Harry James and his orchestra - killer side!!!

Too slow for Lindy, too good for WCS.

a performance dance group i was in had a swango choreography to "bathwater" by no doubt. rather a good tune.

You'd Be So Nice To Come Home To - Jennie Luvv (The Mood I'm In)

I'm not sure if there is much overlap between lindy and tango; probably bigger overlap between tango and blues. Most of the jazz music that would work for tango would be more suited to slow foxtrot or schmoozing. Maybe some of the milonga music might work for lindy hopper since it is more rhythmic and faster. Also you could look into Neuvo Tango which dances to more contemporary music. A good modern band is Gotan Project.

http://www.gotanproject.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuevo_tango

Just happened to run across this... Louis Prima's version of "Buona Sera" (i have it on the Capitol Collectors Series: Louis Prima; sure it's elsewhere as well) is tango for the first minute, then breaks out into swing for a minute and a half, then switches back and forth a bit for the last 30 seconds... could be fun for a showcase of both.[/i]

what about "puttin' on the ritz"? you can milonga to it, and sorta charleston your way through, too.

"The Stolen Alphabet" by String Swing

Available here.

Not quite lindy hop, but you can dance de 'tango' to Jelly Roll's 'New Orleans Bump' (c/o Marsalis).

Tango (the dance) was very popular during the 20s - it's not too surprising to see overlap with (20s) blues. Or is it...?

I know performance type tango lifts and things were quite popular with blues dancers here in Melbourne.

dogpossum wrote:I know performance type tango lifts and things were quite popular with blues dancers here in Melbourne.

They're called "blaerials" where I come from, or sometimes "blair steps".

mity wrote:A dance i DJ has a mix crowd of lindy hoppers and tango dancers. the organizer asked me if there are any songs that would work for both styles ( she wants to do a mini showcase). any recommendations?

There was a dance running in London for a while aimed at Tango and Lindy dancers - they simply had one room for Tango and another for Lindy. It seemed to work well, with dancers moving between the rooms. I'm not confident that I know what music might be suitable for Tango dancing, but from my limited knowledge, including going to that two-style dance in London, I don't think there is very much music that would suit both Tango AND Lindy.